Even the liberal Joe Scarborough cringes (via) at Romney’s ineptitude with crowds:
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!
Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!
The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.
The choice is between normal and crazy.
You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.
Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.
Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.
There’s always a light at the end of the frog.
Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!
Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.
We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.
Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.
Only Democrats have agency, apparently.
“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”
Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!
JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?
Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.
Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.
When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.
One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.
“I was told there would be no fact checking.”
The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.
Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.
Everybody saw this coming.
Baud
As much as I detest Romney, I’m afraid to watch.
lamh35
seriously, WTF is Romney doing?
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/09/26/911051/romney-to-small-businesses-dont-be-expecting-a-huge-cut-in-taxes/
Louise
Seeing Joe in pain just makes my day.
El Tiburon
Let’s Review recent Republican Presidential History:
1. George W. Bush: Worse fucking President ever in the fucking world. Also the stupidest.
2. Sarah Palin: Worse fucking VP candidate ever. Also the stupidest. (Ok Quayle was stupider, let’s add him to the list)
3. Mitt Romney: Worst fucking candidate ever.
Like Taibbi said: How is this even close? How do Democrats not win every single election outside of the Incest Belt for the next 100 years?
Hill Dweller
ThinkProgress is saying Fox brought out the Reverend Wright clips this morning.
Baud
@lamh35:
What’s Romney going to do next? Propose to reinstate the draft in preparation for the war in Iran?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Shorter Joe Scar: Romney’s campaign stinks like a dead intern. OH FUCK I sooooo did NOT SAY THAT! Takebacksies!
General Stuck
I gotta do up an Abbot and Costello photoshop that does justice to the Romney
Ryan/Ryan ticket. Though One comedian short for a Three Stooges take.Old Dan and Little Ann
Ha. I saw that this morning at about 7:05 am. Wonderful way to start to the day. : )
amk
Karmareality is a beetch, joeblow.EconWatcher
Ever since Romney began this parade of fail, my work productivity has gone to $#it. I can’t take my eyes off it. It’s like he’s dunking himself in gasoline and lighting a match–every day.
lamh35
never thought I’d say it, but this is worse than Palin & McCain. jeez, people did still come out to see McCain. McCain continued to have his own rallies without Palin. Dude can’t even campaign by himself anymore!
Chris
@lamh35:
MOTHERFUCKER STUPID SHIT SON OF A BITCH DUMB BASTARD!!!
WHAT the FUCK is wrong with this guy? Do I have to go over there and show you how to run a Republican campaign? The ONLY reason your economic gospel resonates at all outside of the 1% is because you keep telling the little guys that you’re going to cut their taxes too. No, of course you don’t actually do it, but you at least PRETEND, when you’re running for office, that they’re getting part of it too.
How do you not get this? What the fuck? What the fucking fuck? YOU are RUNNING for OFFICE, for Pete’s sake, which mean you need to get at least 50.001% of the public to like you, and people who make more than $250,000 a year will not get you to that mark.
GOD DAMN IT! I never thought I’d be in physical pain from watching the failure of a Republican campaign, but the depth of this stupid fuck’s stupid fuckery offends me as a human being at a level even more basic that political partisanship.
Hill Dweller
@Louise: The first shot of Halperin in that clip is even better.
eric
The best part of all of this fail: Romney was FAR AND AWAY the best of the bunch. That is what us political pros call a “thin bench.” ;)
lamh35
does this guy REALLY not understand that not everyone is blessed financially enough to be able to have 1 parent at home, even in non-single parent households!
“Romney: It’s better to have a parent at home
At NBC News’ Education Nation Summit on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said it was preferable for one parent stay home when kids are young.
The comment came during a discussion of early childhood education and preparing children for kindergarten. “It’s an advantage to have two parents, but to have one parent to stay closely connected and at home during those early years of education can be very very important,” Romney said.
Ann Romney was a stay-at-home mother to the couple’s five sons. ”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/09/25/romney-its-better-to-have-a-parent-at-home/
Baud
@Chris:
That was a thing of beauty.
Schlemizel
@lamh35:
Well, the bullshit he was selling couldn’t find a market so he is going to try some different bullshit. When that does not work expect something completely different.
JPL
@Chris: In the last two days, he said Obama did not raise taxes on the middle class and he himself will not cut taxes on small business.
His campaign was loosely built on lies and that approach did not work. Maybe he wants to awake on the seventh of November with some sense of morality. Okay probably not..
Suffern ACE
@Chris: Yes. And you don’t, like Tommy Thompson, tell the crowd that you’re going to get rid of their Medicare and Medicaid just like you got rid of that pesky AFDC. You tell them that you’re going to cut off funding for PBS and for the Hispanic Lesbian Wimin’s Collective Community Center that makes up a sizable chunk of the deficit.
John O
You have to admit, TDS and Colbert would be much more fun under a Romney presidency.
Anton Sirius
@General Stuck:
Only if you restrict yourself to the ticket itself. Dick Morris would make a heck of a Curly.
Hill Dweller
@lamh35:
They don’t have a clue.
Why would they think attacking Obama on China was a good idea? Even if China bashing polls well, Romney is far more vulnerable on that topic.
Of course, the far more competent Obama campaign has already released a couple of devastating commercials informing voters of Willard’s China investments and previous criticism of Obama for being too hard on China.
Ash Can
I don’t like the idea of being overconfident, but at this rate the debates are going to be fucking brutal.
flukebucket
@Hill Dweller:
My feelings exactly. And watching the clip I can easily see why Paul Ryan is referred to as Gilligan. I guess Ann Romney could be Lovey. We know that Mitt is Thurston Howell III. All we need is the Skipper, Mary Ann, Ginger and the Professor and the casting is complete.
eric
You know, come to think of it: has anyone seen Bob Schrum lately? My spidey-sense tells me that Mr. Schrum signed on to run the Romney/Ryna express.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Hill Dweller:
What I love about the clip is that Scarborough is composed before the video cutaway and when it comes back he’s complete facial tell, glasses removed and rubbing the accumulating stress from his eyes.
Stooleo
I predict that after the election, Romney will fall off the radar for a few months and come back with a giant beard ala Al Gore. His time spent in the wilderness will have taught him nothing although.
Roger Moore
@lamh35:
He suffers from a bizarre fetish that causes him to get sexual gratification from stepping on his own dick. Occam’s Razor.
Hill Dweller
@John O: TDS only manages to be funny about once-a-week these days.
taylormattd
Hahahaha. Omg, lol. Man, it is just *sweet* to see those two so depressed and embarrassed.
We drinks their tears.
Violet
This is the funniest video I’ve seen in ages. Scarborough’s facepalm and Mika’s head-shake and the rest of the talking heads just sitting like deers in the headlights…hysterical.
John O
@Chris:
Count me as another big fan of that one. I actually did LOL when I got to the f-bombs.
TheOtherWA
Thank you for posting this clip. I don’t like Joe Scar and rarely watch that show, but this was sweet.
Living on the west coast has it’s blessings. MJ is on from 3-6am when even insomniacs are asleep, so I avoid it without trying.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@flukebucket: ll we need is the Skipper, Mary Ann, Ginger and the Professor and the casting is complete.
In the through the looking-glass world that is the Romney campaign: John Sununu, Kelly Ayotte, Ann Coulter and…. how ’bout Newtie as the Professor, the dumb person’s idea of a smart person.
Cacti
Mitt is like a once-per-week “Dukakis in the tank” moment, just waiting to happen wherever he goes.
I heart the schadenfreude factor of Willard M. Romney.
bemused
Hee, hee. Mitt is just flailing and floundering like a fish marooned on the shore. With incoherent policy plans, he’s just winging it with disastrous results. Morning Joe better stock up on antacids.
Ash Can
@John O:
I’ll settle for fun now, during the campaign, and reruns after the election.
John O
@Hill Dweller:
Well, I disagree with that a little, but Obama just doesn’t supply the material that Romney would. Romney is a walking cringe.
Chris
@eric:
Too bad we couldn’t get Chris Christie to come sit on it!
(I know, I know, someone already used that joke today).
@JPL:
I think I missed that first one, too. Really? He actually admitted that Obama didn’t tax the middle class – even AFTER the Supreme Court threw him a hail mary by classifying the ACA as a tax?
Then he goes and does this? In the same week?
WOOOSAH… pressure points, pressure points…
jibeaux
Sheesh, I’m such a bleeding heart that I kind of feel bad for Romney right there. He’s so desperate to get the crowd to include his name, the frontrunner’s name, in their chant.
Schlemizel
@flukebucket:
Rove is the Skipper
mAnn Coulter is Ginger
No clue on Mary Ann
But lets be totally honest there are no “professors” on GOP Island. Instead of turning a coconut into a radio they would bash the coconut against their head until they saw stars then claim that was a planetarium and that it provided evidence the Earth was 4000 years old.
Lee
Watch Ryan’s face as Romney states that Obama has not raised taxes during the last 4 years
jibeaux
@Schlemizel: Ginger was a woman.
lamh35
@Chris: he did. in fact I think this video is longer & has more to it. he said Obama didn’t raise taxes and the expression on. Paul Ryan’s face was priceless
RevPhat
I just have to come out of lurker mode to say seeing Joe cringing and praying to the baby jesus just made getting up early because of wretched sinuses so worth it.
MikeJ
@Schlemizel: Gingrich *thinks* he’s the professor.
lacp
Willard must have the world’s shittiest tech support. There’s obviously been a severe malfunction.
Anoniminous
HOW in the world did Romney win a governorship? The man knows nothing, understands nothing, about politics.
Hill Dweller
@John O: Obama doesn’t provide the material, which makes Stewart’s desperate attempts at “balance” all the more humorless. Last night’s show is a good example. Stewart’s criticizing Obama for not meeting with other leaders was both factually inaccurate and unfunny. It was great to see the King of Jordan come out and tell Stewart he was being a drama queen.
Grumpy Code Monkey
And this is where the conspiracy theory nut buried deep in my psyche starts wondering…is Romney falling on his sword to take the heat of the Tea Party congressmen seeking re-election?
The rational part of my brain says, “of course not, don’t be stupid”, but the lizard brain is signaling “WARNING CAUTION SHIT AIN’T RIGHT” like crazy.
I’ve said all along that the smart Republicans were took a dive in ’08 and are taking another one now (none of them want to fix this mess) so we’ve been dealing with the Junior Varsity teams here, but…damn, this goes beyond simple incompetence. It’s not just that Romney is a bad candidate; he’s become an anti-candidate. He’s scoring own goals left and right; the most damning ads Democrats can run against him just need to quote him, verbatim, in context.
You have to ask how the fuck he made it through the primaries, and then you remember who he was running against. Perry[1], Bachmann, and Cain were certified circus clowns working without a tent; Newtron didn’t want it; Paul’s base is loyal but small and annoying; Huntsman (who would have been the real threat, and would probably be several points ahead by now had he won the nomination) had no money and no network; and Santorum was simply an unctuous little shit that nobody could stand to be around.
——–
1. I have to admit, I totally misunderestimated Perry. I knew he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the string, but I thought he had much better political instincts than what he displayed. Not having a serious primary challenge in the last 12 years has obviously left that part of his brain flabby and atrophied.
Suffern ACE
@Anoniminous: Democrats were in disarray.
Amir Khalid
Mitt combines the worst of Thurston Howell III, the Pointy-Haired Boss, and Gordon Gekko in one otherwise empty, if superficially handsome, package. As a graphic to go with stories like this, I would suggest that someone make up a Shepherd Fairey-style campaign poster of Mitt doing a face-palm; but that would suggest a self-awareness he has yet to show during this campaign cycle.
Brachiator
Love the expression on the blonde woman anchor’s face: “What’s that smell?”
Sweet mother, these guys are dopes.
utterdregs
@flukebucket:
Sununu, of course, is the Skipper.
JGabriel
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Hill Dweller:
It won’t be long now before Fox just replaces it’s evening schedule with screenings of Birth of a Nation and Mandingo.
.
EconWatcher
I often read the post and comments without watching the clip. If you’re doing that, go watch the clip. It’s worth it. Joe actually cries out, “Sweet Jesus.”
Ash Can
OK, I just now watched that video with the sound off, and laughed tears. The people on that set who aren’t laughing look like they’re in physical pain — fairly severe pain, at that.
I remember Dukakis in the tank. This campaign has gone way, way beyond that. The tank ad was a one-off in an otherwise lackluster campaign. Romney’s been getting back in the damned tank and riding around in it over and over again, for weeks now, and crashing the fucking thing into buildings on top of it. Political science students are going to be studying this campaign years from now, as a showcase example of just how badly a modern-day presidential campaign can fuck up.
1badbaba3
Goddamn, I feel like Flounder at the parade!
Also too, Mikaaaaaaaa! ! ! ! !
EconWatcher
@1badbaba3:
Say what you will, Mika is a knockout.
NickM
Romney is 65 years old, 6’2″, looks like a movie star, has a cool quarter billion in the bank, and is still insecure? What the hell is the matter with this guy?
Baud
Romeny is the replacement ref of the U.S. political system.
? Martin
@lamh35:
Shorter Romney: I’m assuming y’all have Pricewaterhousecooper do your taxes, otherwise you’re going to understand that what I’m saying here is that I’m going to save millions and you little people are going to pay through the nose.
Chris
@Lee:
Huh, he actually looks sincere, and agitated (Romney). I think he’s finally cluing into the awful truth that he might, in fact, not be winning, and he doesn’t understand why, and the frustration is coming out in droves. “Does ANYONE ACTUALLY BELIEVE…” translation “how are you rubes falling for the other guy’s bullshit and not mine? What am I doing wrong here?”
NickM
I love their cute nicknames for each other: according to Politico, Ryan calls Romney “The Stench” and the Romney campaign calls Ryan “Gilligan.” Gilligan and The Stench – I love it.
IowaOldLady
You have to think that every single day, Obama turns to Axelrod and says, “They’re punking us, right?”
JGabriel
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EconWatcher:
More of a despairing whimper than a cry, don’t you think?
.
different-church-lady
@EconWatcher: I take some comfort from knowing I’m not the only one.
Violet
@Amir Khalid:
Exactly. I was just saying this morning how he reminded me of the pointy haired boss stepping in to show the underlings how to do something, and then making a big mess of it.
Romney really is the corporate id we all detest, all wrapped up in a handsome, empty candidate.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Baud:
Just imagine what a Romeny administration would do to the ecomony.
Roger Moore
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
If so, he’s as bad at that as is he is at the rest of politics. He isn’t just taking a fall, he’s stepping all over standard Republican talking points. That’s not going to do the guys lower on the ticket any favors. I think the simple explanation- that he’s desperately flailing around trying to find anything that will dig him out of the hole he’s in- is the most likely explanation.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NickM: Daddy also botched a presidential run, and wasn’t even a wealthy man, as Andrew Carnegie said of JP Morgan, but he is almost legendary in business, church and political circles as a self-made mensch of integrity. Before this run, Willard was an also-ran. Now he will be remembered as a bitter, incompetent, sweaty, desperate, cynical, pathologically arrogant also-ran. And the dream (of the Mormon Kennedys) died before the man…
? Martin
@NickM:
He’s Mormon running in a party that has a long and current history of discriminating against Mormons. Walking around through life knowing that everyone thinks you’re a freak will make many people insecure.
If you really want to know why a lot of minorities struggle in school, with jobs, and so on. Not everyone can cut through that kind of daily negative energy.
Quarks
As part of my new personal growth of admitting when I was wrong, I will be open and honest with you all: I was wrong. Someone COULD run a worse campaign than did Michael Dukakis.
Baud
Ok, so I finally watched the clip. Did Romney remind anyone else of the Michael Scott character on The Office?
DougJ
@EconWatcher:
I just find her so annoying, I can’t see it.
different-church-lady
Why was she talking about bringing up Gingrich?
Violet
@? Martin: No, not everyone can. But if you’re going to run for President in that party, maybe that’s something you should have dealt with before throwing your hat in the ring.
Gindy53
@Grumpy Code Monkey: I think Perry was so bad because of the pain meds he is addicted to.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@eric:
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The best part is, after first McCain in 2008 and now Romney in 2012, we only need 1 more massively incompetent effort from the GOP in 2016 and they really will be in Bob Schrum territory. There won’t be any political consultants and operators left who have actual hands-on experience running a successful national campaign on the GOP side. The field will be nothing but grifters and losers. One of the wingnut pundits (I forget which one) this week is already crying “Help us Obi-wan Jim Baker, you’re our only hope!”. If they have to go back to GWB’s 2000 campaign to find somebody who know how to play this game, they’re in deep yogurt.
SeanClayton
That settles it. I’m voting for Mitt Romney.
I mean, if I don’t, who will?
MikeJ
@Gindy53: I thought it was his sleep disorder. That’s what that new book about the Perry car in the fail parade says any way.
El Cid
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of evil, fraudulent, greedy, sneering douchebags. Good for them.
Punchy
What’s this mean?
flukebucket
@NickM:
Your comment made this pop into my head for some unknown reason:
“You’re a foul one, Mister Stench,
You’re a nasty wasty skunk,
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mister Stench,
The three words that describe you are as follows, and I quote, “Stink, Stank, Stunk!”
RD
Did he confuse Daytona with Dayton? (Romney’s wearing Red Daytona jacket in the video)
Tractarian
Out of all the plausible GOP candidates this year, Romney was, by far, the most intelligent, the most moderate, the most qualified, the best debater, the best campaigner.
That is all.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
The Dolphin Lady. The only thing weirder than the constant Concern about “Reagan Democrats” is the notion that James Baker can save Willard.
? Martin
My prediction for 2016: the GOP lurches even farther right, and their field gets even weaker. Christie is smart enough to know the GOP is taking pick-up ball skills to the NBA championship and he’ll sit out again, as with the other candidates that could make a serious run at this. It’ll be a complete freakshow.
I was thinking the GOP would implode over this election, but they won too big in 2010. They have too much evidence that they’re on the right track by lurching right to turn back now. They’ll repeat that in 2014 and get massacred. By 2016, they won’t have had time to retool the party base and they’ll have to go in again. By 2020, they won’t be able to firewall Texas anymore.
I’m not sure they can retool though. Their last half century of success has been shifting economic issues into social ones – blaming every economic problem on minorities or gays or gun regulation or whatever. There’s no way to unwind that clock. They have so much work to do to win back minorities and young people that I honestly don’t think it’s possible. They have no vision for a society that is favorable to those groups. They have to trust the Dems will fuck up so badly that their base will abandon them.
catclub
@utterdregs: Rush Limbaugh is the Skipper, and the Whale.
different-church-lady
I’m going to second Sununu, and go with Bachmann, Palin and Gingrich.
MikeJ
@Punchy: http://summermassmedia.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/screen-shot-2012-05-29-at-4-05-11-pm.png
Emma
@NickM: As the cliche goes, you took the words out of my mouth. What in the world is wrong with someone who has everything and still craves that kind of cheap adulation?
kindness
As much as I dislike Scarborough I appreciate his moments of candor and lucidity. It’s something most conservatives bury deep inside themselves right next to their wildest homoerotic urges and never, never admit it is there.
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
He also has big, obvious unresolved daddy issues that are quite specific to running for President. Those are the kinds of things that should have been sorted out in the primaries but weren’t because there weren’t any competent opponents to confront him over them.
different-church-lady
@RD: Bet you anything there’s a piece of duct tape over the last letter. “Here, Mitt, it’s pretty lame but it’s all we got. Hmmm… kinda like you, come to think of it…”
Ash Can
@catclub:
And the boat.
PeakVT
@NickM: I think the main question is: why the hell is he even running?
beltane
Staples is closing 30 stores and “downsizing” an undisclosed number of others. This is obviously very good news for Mitt Romney the Job Creator.
different-church-lady
@catclub:
Come to think of it, Moby Dick probably is a better analogy.
Alex S.
@Chris:
Maybe he snapped… the republican cognitive dissonance was too much for him. Having been under rising pressure, he lost the ability to differenciate between truth and lies.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jesus. NYT poll has Obama up by nine points in Florida.
1badbaba3
@EconWatcher: I loves me some Mika. I’d love to see more of her, but I can’t stand those writhing dickheads on that show. Unless, of course, they are gurgling on their wingnut tears. Jeebus, Joey, what the fuck did you think it was going to be when he couldn’t beat leftovers turds like Newty and St. Rick of the colossal dick, without money bombing them out of the race?
TheOtherWA
If you can stop laughing long enough to watch the very end of the clip, Joe Scar says “It’s like Godfather II, I’m Fredo out in the boat.”
This just made my week. Maybe my entire month.
Comrade Jake
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Game over man. Game over.
? Martin
@Violet:
No question. But this is the other effect of Citizens United. Large dollar donations allow a handful of people to keep candidates in elections that the voting public would have eliminated much earlier. You need to think of small dollar donations as another form of voting. If you need millions of people donating to keep your campaign running, you can’t be too far removed from what voters are looking for. Obama pretty much made that very argument in 2008 when he opted out of the federal campaign matching funds.
Santorum and Gingrich wouldn’t have made it into March without their billionaires, and candidates like T-Paw and Huntsman might have entered or stayed in the race if they saw it as a more populist effort and not a ‘who panders to the biggest donors’ contest.
flukebucket
@1badbaba3:
I have to admit that when it comes to Mika I did feel some movement when I first saw this picture.
Ash Can
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’d make some crack about Unskewed Polls showing that Obama isn’t even on the ballot in Florida, but I’m afraid that I’ll look and find that they really are doing that.
Chris
@? Martin:
Yeah, I agree.
The last time black people switched sides was in the mid-20th century. It was made possible not only by the fact that there was finally something worthwhile in the other party’s platform, but also by the fact that their traditional party (Republicans) had spent the seventy years from Reconstruction slowly sliding from “ignore the black vote, just take it for granted” to “overtly shit and piss all over the black vote because white racist votes matter more.”
I don’t see Democrats behaving that way now or in the future towards black people, or towards other minorities – and needless to say, the Republican economic platform doesn’t offer anything to them comparable to what the New Deal did (quite the opposite). So at least for the immediate future, I think we’re fairly safe on that front. Meanwhile, they’re digging their own grave with every dogwhistle.
Another Halocene Human
@Anoniminous: How did he win? Simple: Jill Stein. She ripped the mask off the Southie Dem Machine hack at the debates, and Mittens sailed into the Governor’s office.
Nancy Darling
@different-church-lady: Because Newt has parachuted into Missouri to save the day for Todd Akin. Santorum and Jim DeMint are also going to campaign for him.
Chris
@? Martin:
Probably also doesn’t help that the mad billionaires’ donations seem to have been all over the place without much of a unified effort. They need to bring back the smoke-filled room as a place to pool their efforts into where they’ll do the most good.
Chyron HR
@Ash Can:
Also, too, at this time in 1980 Jimmy Carter was up 40 points in the, uh, Vandelay poll.
Dennis SGMM
@? Martin:
One obstacle to retooling is that they have systematically purged their party of anyone who has shown the slightest signs of deviating from the party line. This year the lunatic fringe is going after Lindsey Graham. Lindsey fucking Graham. They have managed to deprive themselves of the people they would need to in any way alter their present trajectory.
Violet
@? Martin: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Newt was the Adelson candidate. Did anyone else even donate to him? I think Santorum had support from the fundies,
Alex S.
@Roger Moore:
Interesting, now that you mention it. Obama and Clinton never knew their dads. And McCain, Bush Jr. and Romney tried to surpass their dads. Only Bush Jr succeeded, by beating Ann Richards and getting re-elected. Al Gore and Bush Sr. also were ‘dynasty politicians’. That only leaves Bob Dole as someone with a normal, non-professional paternal relationship – if we look at the past 20 years.
Lurking Canadian
Come on. He’s throwing the election on purpose. Nobody can be that shitty a campaigner. At the rate Romney’s going, the president will be able to win the debates just by standing at the podium playing Angry Birds on his phone while Romney demonstrates how many ways it is possible to cram ones feet into one’s mouth.
Hill Dweller
@beltane:
When it rains, it pours. Staples was Willard’s one “success” story from Bain.
Suffern ACE
@Chris: Crossroads was supposed to do that. Although I’m beginning to think that Crossroads is really just a way for Rove to get a few more big houses for himself.
different-church-lady
@Lurking Canadian: Obama’s opening statement: “I would be happy to give all of my remaining time for the evening to Mr. Romney Thank you, and God bless America.”
Raven
Too bad the clip didn’t include him unloading on Punching Bag Mika earlier.
Chris
@Dennis SGMM:
I’m waiting for that come-to-Jesus moment when they finally realize that “the party line” means different things to all of them. My filthy-rich East Coast friend who wishes the SoCons would just go away and stop embarrassing the party, my fundiegelical relatives in the South who think these East Coast pointyheads are looking down on them, and my classmate the defense contractor who doesn’t wholly fit with either group but has racial prejudices out the wazoo and will come to whoever blows the dogwhistle… all have very different ideas of what “the party line” is.
So far they’ve been able to stick together, but that won’t last forever, any more than FDR’s coalition of Southern Democrats, urban immigrants, rural farmers, Northern blacks and left-wing intellectuals did.
1badbaba3
@flukebucket: Movement? That’s a whole frakkin’ symphony there, my friends. Now if they would just photoshop that giant exposed weenie out of the picture. Sigh.
@Comrade Jake: Now that Newt, I love. Favorite action film ever. Mostly.
Jay in Oregon
@NickM:
Daddy issues. George couldn’t win the nomination, so Mitt has to become president to prove he’s better than his old man.
Same with why Dubya was so gung-ho to get Saddam Hussein; because GHWB didn’t do it.
Todd
Mitt is the CEO who laid off a third of the hq workforce on the Friday before Christmas, announced that there would be no year end bonuses for the remaining folks, paid himself a bonus equalling the annual salaries of all the laid off, and then stood in front of the alcoholn-free Christmas potluck extolling the virtues of the consulting bobs who made the recommendations.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Alex S.:
__
JFK, LBJ and Nixon all had very strange and unhealthy father relationships as well. That’s too many cases to be a coincidence; it seems to be part of the baggage that comes with having the drive to achieve the presidency in the post-WW2 era. And of the whole set, Obama seems to have done the best job of resolving his daddy issues before he got into office, which is part of his strength I think.
Jay in Oregon
@NickM:
From http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81618.html#ixzz27atUP800
Paul Ryan has gone rogue. He is unleashed, unchained, off the hook.
Yay, another GOP VP candidate gone rogue! That never goes wrong!
I expect he’ll have his own reality TV Show, “Living In Galt’s Gulch”, by the end of 2013.
Suffern ACE
@Quarks: Seriously, the reverence for JFK in certain circles has completely led all parties (including those that claim to hate Massachusetts Librals) down the path of campaign doom. When yah got nuttin, vote for the guy from Massachusetts in the primary just hasn’t worked out the three times since 1960 that it has been tried.
WereBear
Not gonna happen.
You don’t become a crazed billionaire dabbling in politics because you get along with people and work towards a shared goal.
Chris
@WereBear:
I suppose that’s a comforting thing.
? Martin
@Dennis SGMM: And the base would fight retooling tooth and nail. When the GOP last fell into the clutches of the Birch society, there was enough journalism left in the world to point out that they were being steered by lunatics. Now there’s Fox News and the whole talk radio world pushing them ever harder to the right, so that message isn’t really being heard. And yeah, as the party get purged of anyone who might even occasionally utter a rational word, there’s nobody left to steer. Even Coburn is pushing back.
If something doesn’t give, they’re going to be stuck with DeMint as the party leader and Texas as a blue state.
celticdragonchick
@Schlemizel:
“Instapundit” Glen Reynolds can be the “Ol Perfessor” and, what the hell, S.E. Cupp can be Mary Jane.
Richard Fox
The epic reality film was never delivered. The star never arrived, much less born. The ersatz election to overthrow the Kenyan usurper was to be seamless, clean, obvious, dramatic, cinematic. No expense spared. The filmed reality rolled, and… the real life Reagan successor– turned out to be a charisma-free gaffe infected dud. Eastwood fallback– well he fell backwards yelling at a chair. In desperation /stupidity/hubris the Masters of the Universe were stuck with the guy whose namesake starred in a middling horror movie opposite–a rat. Now the real movie– and there will be one– that WILL be epic. For Pete’s sake!
roc
@Hill Dweller:
Sure he does. But it’s mostly on the ‘security over liberty’ front, and pointing that out during our little resurgence of Nationalism and pants-wetting-fear-of-terrorism makes you sound like Alex Jones.
Enhanced Mooching Techniques
@Stooleo:
That would be awesome. I can see Mitt narrating global denial and anti gay marriage movies that would become instant cult classics.
? Martin
@Jay in Oregon: I’m thinking more of a morning talk show with Sarah Palin that contrasts with Regis and Kathy Lee (whoever is hosting that hot mess now.) Rather than showing purse dogs and shit, they would cover field dressing large game animals, and how to can your own food in preparation for moocher armageddon.
LanceThruster
@Louise:
Me too, but my pain increases when he goes on about how everyone loved Reagan and HW Bush and that things would be going swimmingly if the current crop of Rethuggers would just adopt that template.
All Mika gets to do is turn her head at him to look as if she’s absorbing his profundity, and if he’s really slathering it on thick, she’s allowed to roll her eyes a bit.
Enhanced Mooching Techniques
@Hill Dweller: I noticed that, like gee Jon, don’t you think it would look bad and send a wrong message for the President of the United States to meet with Arab leaders right after the US government snubbed the PM of Israel for interfering with US politics? If Obama had meet with them, that would be a foreign policy screw up.
1badbaba3
@DougJ: This from a guy who just yesterday came out of the closet as a Diane Chambers spanky.
These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
Move along.
flukebucket
@1badbaba3:
Well I am an old man and I daily have to thank God for small miracles.
Hill Dweller
@Enhanced Mooching Techniques: Stewart also didn’t seem to realize they tapped The View appearance Monday afternoon/evening, and it had no bearing on any potential Tuesday meetings.
Cermet
Romney is such an asshole. As a CEO he really believes everyone should act like his employee’s and do as told. Also, what self centered clown starts his own chant?!
Trinity
Bwahahahahahahahahaha!! Woo. “Sweet Jesus”
WereBear
@Chris: I find it so!
Con artists possess an inherent instability. They are not supposed to ever lose sight of the fact that they are running a con. Yet they are also Method Actors who cannot help but monitor and tap into the emotions they stoke.
It’s not far off from the backstory in Grifters, where the young woman watched the head of her old gang lose it and wind up in an asylum. Or how “cat burglars” push up the risk factor and wind up murdering someone.
Not a stable configuration.
JustRuss
@flukebucket: There is no Republican smart enough to play the Professor(Sorry, Newt!). Besides, Russell Johnson was a bit of a liberal. His favorite role was a part in western where his character beat the snot out of Ronald Reagan.
nemesis
Say what you will, but Milfa is a stone cold hottie.
TerryC
@? Martin: True, that. Discussion yesterday with some campus planners about classroom space that encourages interactions does a great service for the students who feel isolated like that. Really increases their engagement and retention.
different-church-lady
@Richard Fox: “Nobody sets out to make a shitty movie.“
LD50
@lamh35: Maybe his new idea to restart his campaign is telling the truth about how much he wants to fuck over most Americans?
Forum Transmitted Disease
@? Martin: It will happen. Someday, not now. See: Kennedy/Johnson, Vietnam.
Jay in Oregon
@Martin:
A talk show with Paul Ryan and Sarah Palin would be such a spectacular train wreck that I’d have to watch the first episode, at least.
Kane
Classic. Feel the Mittmentum.
LD50
who’s the bald guy cracking up at 0:58?
Emperor of Ice Cream
@Chyron HR: Nice Seinfeld reference. That’s where Mitt will get his next job … Vandelay Industries.
Felonious Wench
I’ve watched this video 3 times, and it’s delightful every time.
“Sweet Jesus!” Mika: “No, it’s not going to work. It’s over.”
aimai
@EconWatcher:
True. Its well worth watching it. I’m saving it up for tonight to show Mr. Aimai when we go out to dinner.
aimai
Gravenstone
@catclub:
Tonybrown74
@LD50:
Ed Rendell, I think. The former Governor of Pennsylvania .
karen marie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The Kennedy family has a long history of actual service to this country, unlike the Romneys. Even if Romney had managed to pull this one out, his family couldn’t hold a candle to the Kennedys in a million years.
KXB
@beltane:
The one in my town is closing, but it shares a parking lot with a re-modeled WalMart, which is still doing brisk business. Staples could not compete on higher-end items such as laptops, tablets, etc. And the margins on mailing supplies and pens is small. I did feel a bit sad, because these are people in my neighborhood who will lose their jobs. I don’t buy my supplies at WalMart, because stores such as Staples had nice Rewards programs that we often used for future purchases.
amk
@Hill Dweller:
lurv it.
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
Some funny stuff in this thread! Martin @ #89, I think you’re on-target. The Repubs will lurch still further to the right, their civil war will continue (with a few more big-name drop-off’s a la David Frum), they will continue to deny global warming (until their own feet are on fire), and, yet, somehow, just enough Americans ill wmanage to vote against their own interests in 2012/2014 and the Repubs will have just enough power to frell things up for the rest of us.
By the way, Mika is hot. Is that wrong to say?
AxelFoley
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
LOL, you really think so? GTFOH LOL
demz taters
@EconWatcher: He also laments that the Southern Baptists don’t have an equivalent to “Holy Mother of God.”
RedKitten
Wow — that was so epic that Scarborough had to take his glasses off to wipe his eyes. Tears of embarrassment? Laughter? Not sure, but watching that video was almost painful, it was so embarrassing. I was blushing FOR Romney, he was so awful. And whoever said he reminded them of Michael Scott was right. That was a total Michael Scott moment, but without the innocence, kind heart, and occasional flashes of wisdom that made Michael endearing.
Midnight Marauder
As always during moments like this, it bears pointing out what John McCain’s team knew about Mittens in 2008:
ruemara
@Hill Dweller: Oh hell yes. Last night it was him bashing the president to the King of Jordan for going on “stupid tv show” The View over meeting more people at the UN for private meetings. Because JS knows better what presidentin’ is about. Fuck Jon Stewart.
Chris
@karen marie:
True story.
Romney won’t go down as the Mormon Kennedy, but the Mormon Al Smith – a Bourbon asshole and a political failure.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ruemara: I’m sure Stewart has been funny about Obama on occasion– some nickname about Mr McPregnantPause made me laugh– but usually he comes across as a sanctimonious whiner whenever he tries to ‘joke’ about him. And decreasing presence of the correspondents in the show is a real weakness.
@karen marie: No argument from me. I am an unapologetic admirer of (most) of the Kennedys, and I have never seen evidence of a living Romney who is unworthy of contempt, but everything I’ve read about old man Romney suggests a mensch, and there are lots of rumors about the Romneys, including the late George, having dynastic ambitions.
Baud
@ruemara:
Um…maybe not the best way to make your foreign guest feel welcome for coming on your own tv show.
BenA
@Tonybrown74:
Yup that’s him.
Ed Rendell looks happier than a pig in shit.
Jamey
I swear, I don’t think it was that bad: MItt was being uncharacteristically funny in reaction to the crowd’s love for the ZEGS. It’s like the airplane window thing. Mitt’s such a stiff that when he’s exhibiting a droll, deadpan wit, people think he’s being serious.
I can understand it, and Mitt is a manifestly bad candidate for reasons that number beyond my ability to count. But can we at least throw him a bone and say that he’s sometimes–rarely, but sometimes–intentionally funny?
Liberty60
@flukebucket:
OK here’s the problem: The cast of that show were generally cheerful, sweet likeable people. Who on the GOP side could fit such a description?
I mean, Newt could fit physically fit in the Skipper’s pants, but wouldn’t that be a monstrous insult to Alan Hale. Jr’s memory?
Maybe we go with a Bizzaro World or David Lynch version of Gilligan’s Island, where eveyrone is some alternate evil version of themselves, where the island is actually a Libertarian griftopia.
different-church-lady
@Jamey: Fine, let’s say he was trying to be funny.
So…. he apparently does not have the good grace to not make this attempt just after he’s introduced his running mate.
“How about Paul Ryan, isn’t he great?” Setup. “Hey, I’m the real star here.” Knockdown. What kind of asshole does that to his own running mate? Guy cues his own supporters to cheer, and then acts like they screwed up when they take the cue. Asshole. He can’t let anyone else have the spotlight for even one second, even when he himself has aimed the thing at someone else.
Rey
@BenA: Yes, Ed Rendell has that look of the fat kid at the table that just got the biggest piece of cake! And any video with Mark Halperin looking like he has a huge sad makes my day..
Lojasmo
@Jamey:
Eh…no.
Catsy
@Roger Moore:
Thread. Won.
Original Lee
I usually don’t look at the clips (can’t have the sound at work), but today I made sure to watch it when I got home.
I love how Ryan got the crowd all riled up, hands the mic to Rmoney, all “Here ya go boss, got them warmed up for ya,” and the little “go get ’em, tiger” pats on the shoulder, then the little feeble “oh crap maybe I shouldn’t wave now” wave.
And Joe’s reaction. Love it, love it, love it.